Heavy rain causes major flooding across southwestern Pennsylvania

Heavy rain on Thursday caused major flooding across southwestern Pennsylvania that impacted thousands of people.

The storms started early Thursday morning, and continued throughout the day.

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Below you will find a county-by-county look at the damage and other impact from this flooding.

Allegheny County:

The first flooding reports came in along Allegheny River Boulevard in Penn Hills around 7:30 a.m. This was followed shortly by similar reports in Etna, Oakmont and Shaler. O'Hara Township declared a State of Emergency after the first round of storms move through.

INTERACTIVE RADAR

Route 28 between the 40th and 31st street bridges was closed southbound for the second time in as many months as runoff from Troy Hill brought water and debris into the road. It was reopened around 7 p.m.

By noon, the storms had dropped enough water to force a temporary closure of the bathtub section of the Parkway East near downtown Pittsburgh.

In the North Hills, a side street off McKnight Road was closed near the Ross Park Mall due to a sinkhole.

By the evening commute, more than a dozen roads throughout the county, including Route 51, Route 65 and Route 8, had partial closures.

In Frnaklin park, basements were flooded with as much three feet of water.

"There was a waterfall that came from the hillside, that was the very scary sound of the window breaking," Joanna Doven said.

Westmoreland County:

The Kindercare on Norwin Road in North Huntingdon had to be evacuated Thursday after a sinkhole opened up underneath its playground. 

Nearby, rushing water turned Guffey Road into a stream, with water so high it flooded driveways.

PHOTOS: Heavy rain floods roads across area

"Creeks and streams aren't handling all this water and roads are getting impassable and dangerous for motorists," John Antonich from the Rilton Volunteer Fire Department said.

The same flooding also caused part of the road to collapse, taking the guide rail with it.

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